


It’s Nice That You Say You Like Me (But Only Conditionally)

by KelliDiane



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Gen, happy birthday louis!, the 1D reuion no one wants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 01:41:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17132627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KelliDiane/pseuds/KelliDiane
Summary: “Oh my god.”The room grew quiet as they all turned to look at Louis.“You all are… You’re so ridiculously selfish.” Louis looks at all of them in disbelief.Or:It’s Louis’ 27th birthday and his sisters’ gift doesn’t exactly go over as planned.





	It’s Nice That You Say You Like Me (But Only Conditionally)

Niall looks at his watch once more as the Chelsea game ticks down to the final few minutes. His car is already waiting for him with his bags all packed and ready to go, but he’s still worried about hitting traffic on his way to the train station.

He’s ready to duck out a few minutes early when the final whistle of the game sounds. Relieved, he stands and gives Deo a hug and wishes him a Happy Christmas before hurrying out of the box he got them for today. His phone vibrates as he receives a text.

‘Still in London. Won’t get there until tomorrow morning. He’s being difficult. xx’

Niall smiles fondly at the update and slows. He can always catch the next train.

——————

“Come on, you big oaf!” Liam laughs as he tries to pack his duffle bag. “I’ll only be gone for a day or so.”

Watson looks at him, unimpressed.

Sighing heavily, he moves his bag from underneath the giant dog. “Mum and dad will be here soon to play with you and keep you company. I’m not abandoning you.”

He takes another few minutes to pack the gifts needed and his bag in his car. He’s about to leave when his phone vibrates.

‘Still in London. Won’t get there until tomorrow morning. He’s being difficult. xx’

He sends a quick reply and heads back inside. “Okay. We have time for a quick game of catch.”

——————

Harry moans as he sit up in his hotel bed. He has a train to catch soon and he hasn’t even begun packing. He can’t believe he agreed to this, but he didn’t have a reason to say no. He just hated England this time of year.

He looks out the window of his hotel and sighs. Why couldn’t he stay here with the city and friends and parties? It was at least above freezing here and there wasn’t a rain cloud in sight. He guesses that this was the right thing to do though.

Standing and stretching, he grabs his phone from the bedside table where it had been charging overnight and heads into the bathroom. He’s getting ready to hop in the shower when his phone vibrates.

‘Still in London. Won’t get there until tomorrow morning. He’s being difficult. xx’

Huffing, Harry still jumps in the shower. He can’t afford to miss his train and be late.

——————

“Young Tommo!” Niall shouts happily as Felicite opens the door to the newest Tomlinson home. He hopes that this one will be the last he has to remember the address for. In the eight years that he’s known Louis, the Tomlinson address has changed three times now.

Fizzy rolls her eyes and smiles softly. “I’m not that young anymore, Niall. I’m finally eighteen, thank you.”

Liam turns the corner to see his friend in the doorway. “Yeah, but you’ll always be that adorable little ten year old to us.”

“Hopefully not to all of you,” she looks over Niall appraisingly.

Niall embraces his friend tightly, patting his back. “Good to see you, mate. Sorry about you and Cheryl.”

“It was a dumb idea, you all warned me. You know how I am though with love, all or nothing.” Liam shrugs and pulls back to give his friend a serious once over. “Heard about you and Hailee. Thought everything was going great there.”

“It was,” Niall quickly tries to defend his failed relationship, “but you know how it is dating in the industry. She’s on tour and you’re on tour and the dates never match up and you can never call because of the timezones. It just gets… Complicated real fast.”

Liam nods. “I always wondered how Lou and Eleanor did it.”

“Guess it wasn’t as perfect as we thought.”

“Oi!” Fizzy interrupts and moves the two out of the doorway so she could actually shut the barrier. “None of that talk. They’re happily together again and she’ll be here with him tomorrow morning.”

The sound of a doorbell ringing behind them stops all conversation.

“Bloody hell. It’s fucking boyband plaza in here,” Fizzy mutters as she opens the door to a disheveled Harry Styles.

“Sorry. Was going to call, but I realised I only have Lottie’s number since I changed my number.” He runs a hand through his hair and smiles sheepishly. “Hello, boys.”

Liam stiffens at the sight of his old band mate. “I’m going to get a drink. Looks like I’ll be needing it to get through this.”

Niall just laughs nervously.

——————

Niall sat in an armchair watching the fight in front of him.

“Just admit that you wanted the hiatus because you had already signed a solo deal!” Liam shouted at his taller friend.

Harry, who has heard this argument before, rolls his eyes. “We’ve been over this. I wanted the hiatus for all of us. We needed a break.”

“Convenient that you had an album and two tours ready to go less than eighteen months after we started our break.”

“Niall and Louis both put out music before I did. Why aren’t you angry at them?”

Liam glares. “Because Niall has said multiple times that he’d drop everything the second we say we’re ready to come back and Louis did that song for his mother. Did you even want to be there for him or did you show up just to save face with everyone?”

“Whoa,” Niall stands at that accusation. “Liam, I think we better stop. That’s a heavy topic and maybe something we shouldn’t really unpack here.” He jerks his head towards the open doors of the den.

“No, I want to hear him say it.”

Niall sighs and heads out of the room, closing the French doors behind him.

Fizzy is nearby, sitting on the stairs that lead to the guest rooms. “Guess we didn’t really think things through. We knew you all had issues, but we figured everything would be good enough for a surprise.”

“They’ll be fine once Louis is here.” Niall sits on the step next to her and takes a long pull from his beer. “Besides, they’ll forget about fighting each other when he gets here.”

“If he shows up,” Fizzy shrugs. “He never actually confirmed he’d be here.”

The lapse into silence as the fight in the other room rages on.

Fizzy shifts uncomfortably on the step. “So you and Hailee?”

“Yeah… Didn’t really work the way I wanted it too.” Niall sighs and looks down at his beer. “We said we’d definitely stay friends since we have so many mutual ones, but we haven’t talked since it happened. I’m hoping it’ll just take time, but I feel like people always make that promise.”

“Of course they do. It’s classic. You don’t want to stop seeing or talking to that person, but you know that continued contact won’t allow you to heal.” Fizzy looks over at him.

Niall shrugs. “I guess. I don’t know. I just thought that maybe I’d finally have a relationship that lasted. She was pretty and talented and smart…”

Taking a chance, Fizzy leans over and connects their lips together.

It takes Niall a few seconds, but his brain manages to catch up and soon enough he’s kissing her back.

“What the hell are you doing?”

They break apart to see Liam and Harry standing there, shocked and staring.

——————

The next morning was quiet, awkward, and came all too fast for the residents of the Tomlinson home. Breakfast was a disaster, and the only saving grace was a text from Lottie saying that they were on their way home from the train station.

“You three go hide in the den. We’ll pull him into the family room and start with the gifts. Then when Lotts texts you guys, grab the cake from the kitchen and come in singing.” Fizzy pushes them all down the hall and quickly shuts them back into the room from the night before.

It’s tense.

“So Fizzy, then?”

Niall heavy sighs. “I don’t know. She just sort of kissed me and I kissed her back. We haven’t talked about it or anything. It’s weird. She’s Tommo’s sister, but I feel like she’d understand my job if we did start something.”

Harry smirks. “Of course she’d understand. But will Louis understand when he finds out you made out with his little sister?”

Liam pinches the bridge of his nose. They had always said that sisters were off limits, but they hadn’t actually taken the words seriously considering the massive age difference between most of them. “It’s fine. Louis isn’t going to find out unless you decide that this thing with Fizzy is going the distance.”

“It can’t. It’s weird.” Niall shakes his head. “It’s like you said, she’s still that ten year old girl that had a Harry Styles cutout in her bedroom.”

There’s a loud noise outside the den and they immediately quiet down when they realise it was the front door closing. They strain their hearing and quickly get excited when they can hear a familiar Northern accent.

“Honestly, presents? It’s ten thirty in the morning. Can’t I just get a quick cuppa? Lottie woke me up so fucking early. It’s just my birthday. Nothing special.”

“No! Come on! Into the family room. Lotts, can you make him a cuppa and grab the one present from the den?”

The boys all smile as the voices grow fainter and the clicking sound of heels grows closer. The door opens and Lottie is there, smiling brightly. “Come on then. To the kitchen with you all. The cake is in the fridge, you just have to put the candles on it and light them. Fiz left everything in the cupboard above the sink.”

They make their way towards the kitchen, talking quietly to Lottie as she boils the water in the kettle. They’re interrupted by a knock on the door.

“I’ll get it!” Lottie shouts. She looks at the three of them contemplatively. “Just remember that you all love Louis dearly. Okay?”

She heads out and leaves the three confusedly looking at each other.

There’s hushed conversation and soon enough Lottie is heading back to the kitchen with someone in tow. “Boys… I believe you know our last guest.”

“Son of a bitch.”

——————

Louis laughs loudly as Doris and Ernest quickly climb into his lap and refuse to move. “How are my favourite youngest siblings?”

“Loulou! It’s your birthday!” Doris excitedly claps her hands. “I made you a present!”

Ernest nods at his sister’s words. “Me too! I made you a present too.”

“Well I’m sure I’ll love them,” he kisses each of them on the forehead and proceeds to open the homemade (and wrapped) gifts from the toddlers. “Oh wow, Dee! This is perfect. Thank you!”

He takes the popsicle framed picture of her and sets it aside to see Ernest’s gift. It’s similar, but with macaroni instead of glitter glued to the sticks. “These are just perfect. Thank you both so much!”

He continues to open gifts from all his siblings. They always give him homemade or personal items since they all know he can buy whatever he wants. Daisy and Phoebe put together a photo album of pictures of all his past birthdays and he tears up a bit as his mother makes an appearance in most of the photos. Fizzy and Lottie had also worked together on a photo album, but their theme was a bit more work related.

“We know you miss the boys, so we made you an album of every group photo you all took. We texted them and asked them to send every picture they had. Unsurprisingly, Niall had a lot of them.” Fizzy rolled her eyes with a smile.

Lottie, who has joined them with Louis’ cuppa, smiles brightly. “I know it’s not even noon yet, but maybe some cake? You always need cake on your birthday.”

Louis is about to decline- the twins shouldn’t have sweets this early- when singing meets his ears. It’s not the normal off key singing of his family either. It’s voices he knows and recognises. Voices he knows mesh and blend well together.

He looks up to see his friends all there, holding his cake. “Guys?”

“Happy birthday, Lou!”

——————

Liam sits at the head of the dining room table, pushing the melted ice cream juice around his plate. “Well, certainly never thought we’d all be in the same room again.”

“Yeah,” Niall says softly. “At least, not the five of us.”

Zayn looks awkwardly at the China cabinet in the corner of the room. “It’s, uh, it’s good to see everyone though.”

Harry nods stiffly.

Louis can feel the underlying tension in the room. He really appreciates what his sisters’ were trying to do, but there’s a reason the five of them were never in the same room anymore. “Yeah, yeah. Good.”

It’s quiet again.

“So you and Eleanor still going strong?”

“Yeah. Got her a present she hopefully won’t say no to.” Louis nods.

“Oh,” Niall nods his head. It’s takes him a moment, but- “OH.”

Harry looks at the oldest in the room. “That’ll be great. You all are practically there anyway. Just making it official.”

Louis smiles softly. “Absolutely, mate. God, you realise that you’re the one who introduced us at that University party? Absolutely crazy how much has happened since then.”

Liam snorts. “Not all of it was good, mind you.”

“No one said it was,” Niall looks pleadingly at his friend. He doesn’t want a fight- not today.

Zayn bristles at the comment. “Yeah. This hiatus really worked out for everyone, didn’t it, Harry?”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

Niall tries his best to keep the air calm. “Nothing. I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by that.”

“Except,” Zayn glares at his once-upon-a-time friend, “that you had this planned for awhile. You met Jeff in 2013? Or was it 2014? Either way, you had this all planned out- the hiatus, the album, never talking to us again.”

Liam rolls his eyes. “Oh like you’re one to talk. We literally agreed on the hiatus to start in December of 2015 and you couldn’t even wait until then. You had to jump ship early.”

“Because I wasn’t going to be apart of Harry and The Styles any longer. I saw the writing on the wall, mate. I knew what was coming.” Zayn crosses his arms over his chest.

“Please, guys. Let’s talk about anything else.” Niall is desperate to change the subject to anything that won’t induce a fight.

Harry scoffs. “Oh please. You can drop the innocent act.” He tries his best to make his face seem young and innocent. “‘Oh, woe is me. My name is Niall Horan and I’m so sad because my friends all fight.’ Give it a rest. You’re the fakest out of all of us.”

“What!” Niall shouts.

“Ed told me that you were writing solo stuff before the band ended. You had so much material the day we ended I’m surprised you didn’t release your album the next day.”

Liam stares at his friend in shock. “You were writing for yourself? But we agreed that we would never do that while we were together.”

“Well what was I supposed to do? You and Louis wrote everything for us. It was always Tommo and Payno on the writing credits. No room for anyone else. How are those royalty fees working out for you?” Niall snapped.

“Oh my god.”

The room grew quiet as they all turned to look at Louis.

“You all are… You’re so ridiculously selfish.” Louis looks at all of them in disbelief. “I wasn’t the poster boy for best behaviour, but I fucking told you all exactly how I felt. I never wrote for anyone except us. As soon as the weed video and baby drama happened, I came to you all to discuss what this would mean for us as a band. Did you all ever think about how all that shit affected me personally? No, you were all too worried about your own careers.”

He looks at Zayn. “You never got any fucking backlash over that video. Everyone knew you smoked weed so it was okay. No one called you names and questioned your character afterwards. Because you were the unique element of One Direction; it was expected of you.

“And you,” he turns to Niall. “You acted like I personally fucked you over because it came out while we were playing at Croke Park. Like I leaked it or planned to ruin your moment. You wouldn’t fucking talk to me for a week after that. And then when it was leaked about Freddie? You never asked me how I was doing or even if Briana and I had talked it out. You just attacked. Fuck, it felt like you were part of fucking management.”

Liam is next in his sights and his glare softens slightly before becoming ice once more. “You of all people know exactly what you did. You always got so fucking jealous when I wrote with anyone that wasn’t you or someone in the band. I wrote with fucking Pete Wentz, and you went and trashed the song to the others before I even had a chance to play it for them because your name wasn’t on the fucking credits. Then when I think we finally started to grow up, you let a woman get in between our friendship. But I guess that’s just you- Mister Liam Payne, always has to be in a relationship.”

Louis turns to look at his last bandmate. His face become nearly unreadable as all emotion drains from it. “You are the absolute worst. You and your fucking treat people with kindness. Why don't you fucking practice what you preach, yeah? You ruined my credibility, my image, and my fucking reputation because you were too scared to upset anyone. Well guess what? You did upset someone- your best fucking friend. All you had to do was say it wasn’t real, stand up for me and my family. Instead you sat there and watched me and my girlfriend get into fights and watch my family be bullied and harrassed. It’s still fucking happening too and you still can’t be fucking bothered. You want to be a gay rights activist? That’s fine, but don’t fucking use our friendship that ended years ago to keep your fans interested. So go ahead, wave your fucking pride flags and wear your androgynous clothing and preach about how you don’t want to be labelled, but leave me and my fucking family out of it. Don’t make comments that you know will instigate something because you need promo for a single.”

He wipes at his face, not even phased when his hands come away soaked in his tears. He takes a deep breath to try and control his emotions. “We used to all be the best of friends and now we can’t even be in the same fucking room as one another. It’s fucking sad.”

He stands quickly, knocking his chair over and bolting from the room.

The others sit in silence, their faces red from the tongue lashing and shame at having their biggest mistakes thrown in their face.

They fucked up and they knew it.

——————

When they eventually find Louis, he’s out in the back garden smoking and drinking tea. “I’m surprised you’re all still here. Figured you be off by now considering.”

“Well,” Liam clears his throat. “We were actually talking after you left and we all came clean.”

Harry nods, knowing that this conversation would never be easy. “We have some things we need to say to you and you aren’t going to like all of them, but if we’re ever going to be able to be friends again they must be said.”

“We’ll start with a collective ‘I’m sorry’.” Zayn says as he pulls up a chair. “Individually, we’re all sorry for the shit we’ve done, but collectively we hurt the band so much.”

Niall sits down on Louis’ other side. “After that article came out last year, we really understood what One Direction meant to you and we think it was so much more to you than any of us. Don’t get me wrong, it’ll always be my start, but I think you thought it was always going to be our everything.”

“We can’t live and die by One Direction. It was a great phase of our lives and we can never get that feeling back. We needed to move on. We all had different stories to tell.” Zayn reaches out to place a comforting hand on Louis’ forearm. “Even now we all have different stories. I mean, you’ve got a kid and you’re getting ready to propose. You’ve lost your mum and basically become your sisters’ father. You had to grow up so much faster than us.”

Liam kneels in front of his friend wanting to keep the proximity and intimate atmosphere. “You’re 27 now, Lou. All this stuff that happened when you were 23 and 24? You’ve got to let it go. We had an amazing run and now we’re all doing our own thing. I mean, you’re a judge on XFactor for Christ’s sake.”

“The point is, we all need to let it go.” Harry says softly. “There are obviously some things we still need to work on that we can never change, but we can move forward. And, who knows, in another two or three years maybe we’ll be ready to reunite and take the world by storm again.”

“But for now,” Niall pulls his attention to him, “we need to support each other and make sure that we can avoid all fighting and division in the media. We want to be friends again. We need to be kept in check and make sure that we know that there’s a friendly face out there that will never turn on us.”

“We’re brothers. And sometimes brothers fight, but they always forgive each other.”

Louis smiles softly and looks at each of them in turn. “So… We’re okay then?”

“Absolutely.”

They all embrace and for a moment it feels like 2012 all over again.

Harry smiles mischievously as they all pull away. “So is now the time to mention that Niall made out with your sister or…?”

“WHAT?!”


End file.
